I think it's worth mentioning that while biometrics for identification have flaws (as mentioned in this thread, they're not 100% collision free, are not necessarily secret, and are non-trivial to collect), DNA has a different risk profile if it leaks than fingerprints and iris scans if you consider technology advances. DNA could let people (moving beyond government, since you should probably assume anything in a government database will be leaked at this point) target your family and not just you, it includes information that could let adversaries find out ways you're uniquely exploitable (for instance allergies, sensitivities, diseases) and in general its potential for harm goes far beyond impersonation or being used in court.
(On the plus side, I suppose, I think the story on storing DNA at the scale we're talking about is not fully complete. DNA does denature and it takes a reasonably good sample to get a full genome sequence, and fully sequencing and storing data for every person has other practical issues. The article itself only references using DNA results to "prove or disprove biological sex", which is much more trivial and while it's likely to come with its own problems and edge cases, is also much less information.)
It's encouraging to see browsers actually deprecate APIs, when I think a lot of problems with the Web and Web security in particular is people start using new technologies too fast but don't stop using old ones fast enough.
That said, it's also pretty sad. I remember back in the 2000s writing purely XML websites with stylesheets for display, and XML+XSLT is more powerful, more rigorous, and arguably more performant now in the average case than JSON + React + vast amounts of random collated libraries which has become the Web "standard".
But I guess LLMs aren't great at generating XSLT, so it's unlikely to gain back that market in the near future. It was a good standard (though not without flaws), I hope the people who designed it are still proud of the influence it did have.
> I remember back in the 2000s writing purely XML websites with stylesheets for display
Yup, "been there, done that" - at the time I think we were creating reports in SQL Server 2000, hooked up behind IIS.
It feels this is being deprecated and removed because it's gone out of fashion, rather than because it's actually measurably worse than whatever's-in-fashion-today... (eg React/Node/<whatever>)
100%. I’ve been neck deep over the past few months in developing a bunch of Windows applications, and it’s convinced me that never deprecating or removing anything in the name of backwards incompatibility is the wrong way. There’s a balance to be struck like anything, but leaving these things around means we continue to pay for them in perpetuity as new vulnerabilities are found or maintenance is required.
What about XML + CSS? CSS works the exact same on XML as it does on HTML. Actually, CSS works better on XML than HTML because namespace prefixes provide more specific selectors.
The reason CSS works on XML the same as HTML is because CSS is not styling tags. It is providing visual data properties to nodes in the DOM.
Agreed on API deprecation, the surface is so broad at this point that it's nearly impossible to build a browser from scratch. I've been doing webdev since 2009 and I'm still finding new APIs that I've never heard of before.
> I remember back in the 2000s writing purely XML websites with stylesheets for display
Awesome! I made a blog using XML+XSLT, back in high school. It was worth it just to see the flabbergasted look on my friends faces when I told them to view the source code of the page, and it was just XML with no visible HTML or CSS[0].
Some people seem to think XSLT is used for the step from DOM -> Graphics. This is not the first time I have send a comment implying that, but it is wrong. XSLT is for the step from 'normalized data' -> DOM. And I like it, that this can be done in a declarative way.
Is there not a confounding factor at play that a more functional government would facilitate both more democracy and more legislation on newer technology? Is this notion that "it might be nice to help your target market have a generally working government to facilitate them being willing to divert money towards non-corruption goals and able to protect your market with laws" really that new?
(Here the model would be that democracy is something that countries develop once they have some OK government systems, not that democracy in itself makes those systems better, but it works with the causation the other way too)
I'm finding it interesting (after spending time in the EU where ChatControl is front and center in the news) that there's been this resurgence of interest in electronic surveillance and information warfare suddenly in countries that 10 years ago spent a significant amount of the news cycle decrying the US's NSA and China's internet police. What's changed?
This is a Canadian bill and the party in power are (relatively) progressive and (definitely) democratic, though they are to the right of the American progressives and to the left of the American Democratic Party. More to the point, they do not remotely own everything.
They are unlikely to pass it directly without changes though. They are a minority government, and the Conservatives have been backed by foreign actors in various capacities in election cycles and are a strong enough opposition that they'll resent the crackdown, and the leftists are generally not fans of the local telecom industry (or the Liberal pandering to industry in general) and will probably want either less protection for telecoms or more protection for individuals.
This is extremely common throughout the world for businesses that sell alcohol or variations on gambling - and while I don't necessarily think the advertising should be _illegal_ (in those cases with non-controlled substances at least), I've always been shaken that the many people involved in it don't seem to see how it could be immoral.
I'm unfamiliar with the business of finding illegal immigrants. Isn't the idea of detaining them that you're worried they might flee if they know they're going to be deported? If so isn't it counterproductive for ICE to make noise (announcing themselves basically) if doing a 5am raid for farm workers? You'd think showing up at the field in a separate bus and spreading out would work best.
I think the issue you're having is that taking it way too seriously is exactly what creates the feeling of belonging. There's a number of forums or clubs where one might discuss morality, myth, creation stories etc more like wrestling - fantasy roleplaying groups and fantasy writing circles often do include those themes for instance. But it's harder to feel true belonging through discussing whether your bard is an asshole for sleeping with a gold-hoarding dragon if you're 100% aware that neither bards or dragons exist.
Is there anything you do take super seriously? The environment, your job, parenting, a specific hobby or something? Something you think other people are missing out on by not experiencing? Looks like a club based on that would work better for you.
> But it's harder to feel true belonging through discussing whether your bard is an asshole for sleeping with a gold-hoarding dragon if you're 100% aware that neither bards or dragons exist.
But that's how it works at church. I've met plenty of people who go to church/mosque/temple and do all the god stuff there but then when it comes to it they're not stupid and behave like normal people in other situations. I've drunk wine with muslims, slept with Christians etc. The trouble is there will always be some people who don't get the joke and will take it seriously. Like the people who believe in the flat earth conspiracy now. It makes me really uncomfortable to enable something that can really ruin people's lives.
> Looks like a club based on that would work better for you.
Like I said, clubs aren't really the same. Probably because there's no "moral imperative" to go to a club (fake obviously but everyone plays along). Also the kind of clubs I would go to would be full of weirdos like me. My hobbies are best done solo.
Honest question: for women, are there any churches or other religious or spiritual traditions that do not limit them or afford them a second-class status relative to other members? (This can be in terms of church elders/leadership positions or just importance in activities, speeches giving women good role models, etc). For instance Catholic traditions usually provide quite a few female role models (not least Mary) but heavily sideline women in actual church operations, whereas Protestant traditions have more equitable leadership ranks, but don't give as much space to women who are not in leadership. I am not clueful enough to discuss other traditions sadly.
It depends mostly on the denomination, sometimes on the individual church. I'm a man, so maybe I wouldn't notice it, but I've never attended a church where I got the impression that women were second-class citizens. Every church I've ever attended has had women in the pulpit, standing on stage, leading worship, running programs, wrangling volunteers, leading Bible studies, teaching kids, discipling teenagers ... and the list goes on. I've never met a church that could have survived without the women in the congregation, and if any man ever tried to treat them like second-class citizens, I think they were likely too busy running things to notice it.
That's not saying there aren't churches like what you're worried about. It's just that I've attended a pretty good mix of conservative and liberal churches over my 50+ years, and I haven't seen one.
(On the plus side, I suppose, I think the story on storing DNA at the scale we're talking about is not fully complete. DNA does denature and it takes a reasonably good sample to get a full genome sequence, and fully sequencing and storing data for every person has other practical issues. The article itself only references using DNA results to "prove or disprove biological sex", which is much more trivial and while it's likely to come with its own problems and edge cases, is also much less information.)